FOR THE HONOUR OF
SOUTH AFRICA

PRIVATE GERT JOHANNES JACOBUS LUBBE

SOUTH AFRICAN INFANTRY

18TH OCTOBER 1918 AGE 30

BURIED: ROISEL COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION, FRANCE


On 17 October 1918, Gert Lubbe, the only surviving member of his gun team, took his Lewis gun out into open ground to destroy the uncut German barbed wire holding up his company's advance. He died of wounds, "gunshot wounds (knee), which proved fatal" at a Casualty Clearing Station at Roisel the next day.
In 1919, Lubbe was awarded a posthumous Military Medal for the "magnificent gallantry" he showed that day.
The War Graves Commission record Private Lubbe's first Christian name as Gert but other sources record it as Dirk. Dirk/Gert came from near Pretoria in South Africa and had served in German South West Africa before being sent to Europe.